Shimla: In a bid to promote inter-caste marriages, a cabinet committee headed by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has increased the inter-caste marriage incentive from Rs 25,000 to Rs 75, 000.

While inter-caste and sub-caste marriages remain a taboo in many parts of the country, Himachal Pradesh government is trying hard to dissolve these differences. In order to promote young men and women to marry outside their caste, the state government has decided to give Rs 75,000 to couple where one of the spouses belongs to a Schedule caste.

According to the statics, the scheme, which was introduced in 1994, has failed to promote inter-caste marriage as only 1,113 inter-caste marriages have taken place in the past four years.

The pale response forced the government to revisit the amount of money given to couples under the scheme. The government is now hopeful that the increase in incentives will encourage inter-caste marriages.